The Syracuse Journal, Volume 28, Number 12, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 18 July 1935 — Page 9

r —■* ' HISTORY OF SYRACUSE SETTLED IN 1335 I '—— ■ — f T** following is taken from the Syracuse and Lake Wacompiled by George W. d printed in the Syracuse wee ly, in 1909: n .inced that when I shall h i hed this history it will be a rly true in all its details as i: ■ .rposile memory of all those no living who resided here in the early days of the town can make it, for I have invited them to correct me if I make any misstatements, and don’t you think they are at all backward about doing it! For instance: week before last I corrected Leonard Brown, who said that the water saw mill stood south of and up the creek from the flouring mill. Now, I knew that it stood where Mrs. Ellen Trester** barn now stands, below where the flouring mill stood, that the mill race formerly extended across Main street to it, and that there was a bridge across this "race in front of where Amos Madlem’s blacksmith shop now is for I had played about this mill and fished from it in the creek below; and once when Al Acker's father was running it and had left Al and me in charge of it while he went up town on an errand (after you started the saw into a log.you could go away and transact considerable business and get back before it had sawed off a board) and Al. by turning on more water, had shown me that the speed of the saw could be greatly increased, there was a great crash as though the whole mill were being crushed about us, and we went flying out of it a* fast as our nimble legs could carry us. Al to find his father and report the disaster, and 1 to sulk home in doubt as to whether we should both be Uounced, or only he. But Mr. Acker was one of the kindliest men that ever lived and we both escaped And the wreck was not as disastrous as we feared. The old “ss*h" frame that held the saw had gone to smash but it was old and worn and should have been renewed long before—so said Al’s kindly father, bless hi* memory! (The saw, which had been caught on Its downward stroke half wi»y through the log, was bent to a right angle, but he didn’t complain of that.) Oh, I guess I knew whore the old water saw mill stood? But there had been two of them, and this one I knew was the second one. built by Joeeph H. Defrees after he came into possession of the mill property and the first one, built by Crosson A Ward, had p ed out of existence long before my time, and 4 had never heard of n'il after the Journal was issued th week; and then I did, and promptly too. Frederick Butt was Hr t to tell me of my mistake, and fter him came Wesley Westlake and Samuel Akers senior and others, and then a letter from Mr. Brpwn in which he declined to acknowledge the correction. And *o, thank* to all of them, ws have this msttsr straightened out now and Mr. Brown was right in the first place. Th* first saw mill stood along the race just above the flour mill, while the distillery stood near and beloW it, just across the creek from where Henry Snobarger's livery barn now stands. This distillery belonged to Jame* Weaver and James Kirkpatrick. who kspt a lot of hogs and cattle about it, on account of which it became a nuisance there, and it was moved to the bank of the lake at the foot of Pearl street, on the ground afterward occupied by Martin Hillabold** steam saw mill I must mar another good story a little. I have said that the old store building near the Dunkard church was built by Geo Kirkpatrick in 1837. It was built by Joseph H. Defrees, after he purchased the mill and lands here. The Kirkpatrick store stood on the ground now occupied by Elmer £. Strieby’* hardware store. There were several gentlemen after Kirkpatrick each of whom kept a store in it for a time —one fellow named Ray—and during the war Sharon Hall kept the post office and a Httie grocery and general store In it. It fell into decay after that, and came to bo consldered a nuisance, probably as much as for any other reason on account of the paint on it. which was an offensive yellow; and along about eighteen seventy *lx or seven a party of jokers, of which George M Ray and Milton Patterson were the head, started a smoke in it and gave a fire alarm, and then attacked it with axes and ropes and destroyed

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it.-Now, Perry Wilden owned an interest in the building at the time, and he failed to properly appreciate the humor of the situation, and brought suit against the principal ones concerned in the affair for trespass. As I remember they got out of the scrape for something like, thirty dollars apiece. And further of the Defreeses. I have said that the elder Defrees was named James that he was familiarly called “Old Jimmie Defrees,” and that he died here, neither of which facta could I prove positively in a court of law by the witnesses I have found thus far. And . the death of James the younger may not have occurred before 1851 /when Richard F Mann bought an 'interest in the mill and store with Joseph It occurred near that time I —possibly in 1852—and was caused by consumption. And there was another son ofthe elder Defrees I . have not mentioned, the youngest of them all—William, who kept a ‘ store in Benton and failed in business there. He never lived in Syracuse and was little known here What became of him after his fail ur* I do not know. I Another thing: I have presumed that Crosson & Ward built the dam here after they entered the Land on which St stands in 1835. But Samuel Akers tells me that the late George Angel, who had a wonder- • fully good memory and whose veracity was always unquestioned, testified on the witness stand some years before his death, in the case that grew out of the effort to ditch into and lower the lake, that they i built it in 1832. And John Cable refers me to a county history that was published some years ago that makes a similar statement —that Crosson 4 Ward came here and built the dam in 1832, and had even built the mill on it before the land | was opened for entry by the government. And it may be true that they did so. I was skeptical of these statements because of . the fish trap across the channel I have told you about. (This fish trap, by the way. was built by Squire Cory. But the first dam built by Crosson & Ward was much lower than the ’■ one afterward maintained by Defrees. and could have raised “the big lake” but little, and this fish trap could easily have existed, and did exist, after its construction. If anybody can clear up this matter 1 would be grateful to have him do it. One date I have fixed; the sec 4 ond mill built by Crosson & Ward, that stood at the end of the race where the water wheels are,, was , opened for business in 1841 about the first of August. So the first , one must have sunk. I take it, in. 1840 With these corrections I believe I am willing to defend all the statements I have made thus far. , And for all of them that are not matters of record I am under obligations to Henry Strieby, Leonard Brown, Zechariah Hendrickson, Samuel Akers, Wesley Westlake. Fredrick Butt, John Cable and others. The Syracuse flouring mill did a groat business in the early days, after Mr. Defree* came into possession of it. Flour was then all shipped in wooden barrel* and at first was hauled from here by teams ! over wretched roads, all the way to ( ’ Fort Wayne, from whence it was transported east byway of the , Wabash & Erie canal. And the price paid for hauling it to Fort i Wayne was 50 cents a barrel. Lat- , er it was hauled to Elkhart from » whence it was shipped byway of the St. Joeeph river and Lakes Michi igan and Erie. Elkhart then had a k I general store, a little drug More and 1 I tavern, and a few dwelling house* I t hid away in the hazel bushes. ■ J The great Kirkpatrich house that I Leonard Brown tell* us about, with | | its great chimney and its four fire- ; i places, stood on the lot now occut pied by Eli Hinderer's store, the : I Bank of Syracuse and Elmer P I I Mile* A Co. ’* grocery. ’ Samuel Crosson built a preten- ( tious home for himself and hi* fami- , j ly on the lot on Main street whereI I no now stand* the dwelling house of I MiaJKaiy Kern—a two story house with a hall up stair* Intended to have dances in; but he joined the church about the time the house was finished and it b doubtful if any dance was over held in it. After hi* death the house became the village tavern, kept by divers persons, among th* number Mr. Shelmadine Robert Mullen, Sharon Hall’s father and Joseph Kauffman. I believe. It was while Mr. Kauffman lived in it that John Mile*,

Champion High School Debaters Herbert Shapiro and cart Lundquist ot Sioux Falla 8- D- were the win ners Id the national high school debating tourney conducted tn Cleveland. Ohla

now of Syracuse, married bis ter Sarah. After the new and more pretentious hotel was built at the corner of Main and Huntington street, where Henry Sloan’s restaurant now is, it fell into disuse as ,-a tavern, but it still continued to stand at its original location for some ten or fifteen ye: rs and then my uncle, Evan Miles, bought it and moved it onto the lot at the southeast corner of Carroll and Harrison streets whereon now stands the brick residence building owned* by Oliver Snavely.. There it stood for en or more years aud was occupied as a dwelling by divers families, and then my other uncle Elhanan W. Miles, bought it and moved it back up town to Huntington street a little south of his blacksmith shop that stood where Ed McClintic’s business builling now stands. There it remained until we began building the new Syracuse a few years ago. Eli Grissom had his harness shop in it for several years. Dr. J. H. Bowser then came into possession of it, and desiring to improve the lot on which it stood with a modern business building he gave it to Roy Reed, who moved it away out over the hill on Huntington street, or road. The name by which it was known when it was a tavern was “The Old Rough and Ready,” and by that name it is called to this day by old timers. The last house in the town it is, on the east side of Huntingto siren out nearly as far as the farm house of Thomas Hapner, and it will be worth your while to walk out there one of these pleasant evenings and look at it. Henry Ward died in the old house that stood in the middle of the lot whereon now stands the dwelling house of Mrs. Rebecca Stetler; in what year 1 do not know, (Leonard Brown thinks in 1849) and was buried in the cemetery here though I am unable to find his grave therein. He was ill for a long time with a swelling and soreness of his legs —with dropsy, I suppose. His wife, Sarah, was a daughter of old man Johnson, an early settler near the east side of Lake Wawasee, for whom’* Johnson’s Bay was named. He wa* the father of the late Isaac and Martin Johnson. Mr. and Mrs. Ward had no children. Through the disasters that had overtaken them here they had become very poor. She wa* married again within a year or two after his death to a gentleman from Michigan, whose name Ido not know,'on the occasion of which wedding there wis aa old fashioned belling, and of the belling party old Bob Cory was captain. The groom and bride were compelled to make their appearance and did so in their night clothe*. A treat of pie* and cake* was then furnished and the party dissembled. The buhrs used for grinding flour in the mill that sank were hauled here on wagon* all the way from Cincinnati. The corn grinding buhrs were home made affair* made out of “nigger head” stone* by old man Inks, a stone cutter of Milford. These latter were taken up after the sinking of the mill, but the better and more expensive ones, it *armr. sank deeper in the quicksands, and

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THE SYRACUSE JOURNAL

the many attempts to recover them all failed. The bolts used for making flour were turned by hand, and there being little market for bran and other mill feed much of it was shoveled out into the creek below the mill to float down th* stream The first justice of the peace in ! Syracuse was George A. Royse, and ; be was the .father of Judge Lemuel ’W. Royse, now of Warsaw. His | widow the mother of the judge, still lives at Pierceton. I believe. | The summer of 1848 was known as the sickly summer in Syracuse. ; Now, as compared with the present • time I believe that every summer ; up to that time had been that. But I this one was called the sickly summer because it was more sickly than any of the other sickly summers had been. I don’s know how many deaths there were, but there were ss many as three unburied corpses in one house at the same time. The whole population of the village could not have* numbered more than two hundred. The first cooking stove in the town James Defrees had in the kitchen of his residence in 1846. There was one box stove in the town then and it was in the school house. Such a thing as a carpet was unknown. —. v— DIES AT HOME OF DAUGHTER NORTHWEST OF N. WEBSTER Mrs. Sarah J. Kauffman, 72 died Friday afternoon at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Graham Tyler, four miles northwest of North Webster after an illness of one month from complications. Formerly of the “Dismal," she had resided for six months with her daughter. Surviving relatives include three daughters, Mrs. Graham Tyler, Mrs Charles Richcreek of North Webster; and Miss Viola Kauffman of Syracuse; a brother, Henry Rapp Elkhart; and four sisters Mrs. Mary Swenson, Mrs. lizzie Grimes, of Syracuse; Mrs. Kate Dull and Mrs. Annie Rapp, of Ligonier. Funeral services were held at the Church of God, Syracuse, Sunday at 2 p. m. Burial was at Syracuse. CASE DISMISSED. The suit for judgment filed by Samuel Tyler against the State Bank of Syracuse has been-dismissed tn circuit court. 0 “ *Tto an old maxim in the schools, that flattery to the food of footo— Yet now and then your men of wit will condescend to take a bit”— Swift. I ■' ' ■ 1111 " " - Fine Dry Cleaning Phone 90 We call and deliver * Syracuse Dry Cleaners M. E RAPP

FRESH PEAS AND BEANS Fresh home grown .pew ««d .beau* are coming Into tie* MAricetandone should know just when to gather the pods in order to have pern at their sweetest and beans that »r» tender and stringtes*, according to Mto* Aneta Beadle, Purdue University extension nutritionist. Freeh from the vine to the kitehen is always best, especially for peas, as their sugar changes rapidly to starch after the pods are picked, she explained peas should never be left in the sun and if they are to be kept over night they should be kept cool in a refrigerator if possible. Beans, too, are best when fresh from the garden, picked at just the right stage for tenderness and flavor. There may be strings to avoid, however. Very young beans of almost any kind are stringless there are varieties named “stringteas” which have no strings until they are quite mature. When buying, it is a good idea to test a bean or two snap them to see whether there are strings and whether the pod is tender, thick walled and crisp. In cooking these vegetables, flavor a tender delicate texture and the natural color should be retained if possible. There are more kinds of food value in peas and beans than in any other vegetable. They have more protein than any other fresh vegetable though it to not quite such efficient protein as you get in meat, eggs or milk. They have calcium, phosphorus, iron and various other minerals for bones, musics and blood And they have the vitamins which help along the appetite and general tone of the body and help to protect health. Some of these values are easily lost in cooking. This is true of the minerals and vitamins and also of the sugar which to important to the flavor of peas. To keep the color of green peas nd beans or eny other green vegetable, cook in an open pan no cover. Do not use soda it destroys food value. For cooking fresh green pea* shell, wash and drain green pea* just before cooking, drop into a small quantity of lightly salted boiling water and simmer (do not boil) for 15 or 20 minutes, or until tender. Serve the small quantity of water left with the peas, and add butter, I

■ V MTMHWFiiiiJiiTyiM w I 1 Ml B WJkmH I B jB B Ji M B • Whether cooking or baking, an electric range keeps the kitchen I cool. The oven is thoroughly insu- >Z lated to prevent the heat escaping, I > / | while the positive temperature con- I I trol permits the oven to reach only the heat you desire. When you are cooking, the utensils rest directly on > I the heating unit, which applies all Thh n«ge Ims Calrod h—ring the heat to the vessels’ bottoms and uniu » *° exclusive feature that tbu, prevent, he~ from escaping into the kitchen. By nmking the heat haveooe of these handsome mod"Cook the food and not the cook,” ern <tect«c ranges in your own , . . r „ i kitchen by a down payment of an electric range g> m yon fall hew- gJJ,.«» dJTym. to ing value for «ach cent of electricity. pay the balance monthly. Besides being cool and cheap, electrie cooking is also clean and convenient. Ask for a demonstration, at your dealer’s or our salesroom.

salt and pepper. Fer green bean*, cook in lightly salted water, .but they will need a little logger ttaa 30 minutes to make them tender Beans are good dr**eed wither with meat drippings or melted butter. - ■ i u FORMBR. RESIDENT DIES Funeral services for David Watson I were held in the Church of God with Rev. Ortho Warstler and Rev. Victor Yeager officiating Burial was in the Syracuse cemetery. Mr. Watson, aged 80, was born near Syracuse, the son of Robert and Sarah Watson. He had lived two miles north of town, all of his life, until nine years ago when he was taken to the Indiana Farm Colony at ButlerviEfe, where his death occurred Saturday. Mr. Watson never married, and his nearest survivors are four nieces who live in Hutchinson, Kansas. The bar room to not exactly an appropriate place for men to discuss the extravagant habits of their wives, but a lot of them do.

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THURSDAY, JULY 13, IMS

LIFE SAVING CLASSES AXAKT AT OAKWOOD Aqyeo» Rtople and adults, are invited to join the Junior and Senior life-saving classes of the FERA under instruction of Miss Leila Connolly These swimming classes will meet at Oakwood Park at 9:30 Friday' morning and at 2, Friday afternoon. Other cl***, es at other points on Lake Wawasee are to be organized shortly. Miss Connolly said. MOCK’S BOAT LIVERY TIRE VULCANIZING ACETYLENE WKLDING Lawn Mowers Sharpened ®nd Repaired AGENCY FOR Johnson Motors You have tried the rest New try one of the best. South Side Lake Wawasee NEAR WACO Phone 5*4 — Syracuse